Small town mentality? Big city reality.

One narrative we have heard over and over about the lease is how innovative it is. This is the type of thing that big cities would do. If Erie wants to aspire to be like bigger cities, then a lab in the library is a great thing for tourism. Last week I went on vacation to Philadelphia. There, I sought out the main branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia. I have a library card in the Philly system–details here: https://keepourlibrarypublic.com/2024/06/17/94/. The main library is located a short walk from Benjamin Franklin Parkway. It’s in a district that includes the Museum of Modern Art (yes, where Rocky ran up the steps), the Rodin Museum, the Franklin Institute, the Barnes Foundation, and Logan Square. I saw a beautiful building, books, people, sheet music, a summer reading program, and a security guard playing actual chimes to signal the quarter hour. I also saw a computer lab located accessibly on the first floor of the building. I saw an air-conditioned space on a 100 degree day. On the block behind the library was located Book Corner which is run by the Friends of the Free Library of Philadelphia. They operate this used book and media store year round to raise money for the library.

Do you know what I didn’t see in the library? Any outside entities. In a city that is home to U Penn, Villanova, Drexel, Temple, and LaSalle–big name, private universities, mind you–not one of them had taken up residence in the public library. This is a community that values its library system. They don’t use it as rental property. They value it as a community asset and keep it accessible to all citizens. Maybe Erie should aspire to bigger and better things if that includes treating its library as the community asset it is.